PINA

Fijiana Drua Head Coach Senirusi Seruvakula will want to finish on a high note in the Super W competition next week. Seruvakula’s players were put to the test in last week’s clash against Brumbies and impressed the Head Coach by outclassing the Canberra-based side 17-7. Seruvakula has a tough job ahead of them when he selects his final team. He says players...

Suliasi Vunivalu is back at last. The dynamic Fijian finisher now has at least seven games in Super Rugby Pacific to force his way into the Wallabies. Vunivalu’s selection on the wing for the Queensland Reds is a fresh and exciting dimension to Friday night’s clash against the improving Melbourne Rebels in Melbourne. If there are early nerves in his first match...

The Republic of Palau and the United States opened the 7th Our Ocean Conference (OOC) today, marking the first time this event has been held in a small island developing state (SIDS). For SIDS, this underscores the critical role and leadership of indigenous peoples and local communities in tackling the climate change and ocean crises. Palau and the United States organised...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he will continue to press the Solomon Islands amid its security pact with China if the Coalition is re-elected for another term. Morrison was asked what his government would do to ensure China would not establish a military base in the Solomon Islands while on the campaign trail on Tuesday. “Well, you heard from the...

China requested that a plainclothes 10-person security detail armed with pistols, rifles, two machine guns and a sniper rifle be dispatched to Solomon Islands late last year, leaked documents reveal. The Guardian has received a copy of the documents, dated 03 December 2021, in which China requested security personnel be allowed to enter the country to secure the Chinese embassy...

Zed Seselja will visit the Solomons despite the federal government being in caretaker mode. Australia's Pacific Minister Zed Seselja has flown to Honiara to strengthen Australia's relationship with Solomon Islands after a leaked Chinese request to import arms was made public. This is despite the government currently being in caretaker mode due to the upcoming federal election. China proposed importing firearms including...

The Local2030 Islands Network held its first in person high-level meeting, co-chaired by Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry in the margins of the Our Oceans Conference, currently being hosted by Palau. “We are very proud to be part of this Network, and also represented through various US islands and territories such as...

Palau's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment Steven Victor says it is significant for Palau to be the first small island developing state to host a large event like Our Ocean. The conference opens in Palau today and more than 500 delegates from upwards of 80 countries are expected to attend. “We are one of the few countries in the...

The ethnic Wallisian party in New Caledonia's Congress, which holds the balance of power, has pulled out of its partnership with the pro-independence Caledonian Union. The leader of the Pacific Awakening Party Milakulo Tukumuli made the announcement to withdraw its three members a week after the Caledonian Union Congress. At the Congress, the Caledonian Union president Daniel Goa said as Pacific...

Op-Ed by Levan Bouadze, Resident Representative, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji. (Covers Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) The Blue Pacific defines who we are as Pacific people and our relationship with the vast oceans that make up our environment and the place we call home. This biggest ocean in...